Improvement in fire-extinguishers



C. L GARFIELD.

' FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

Patented. Nov.28 ,1876.

E V N 000 o I: 0 o 00mg.

WITNESSES Atoreyg I OF ICE.

CHARLES L. GARFIELD, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIR E-EXTINGUISHERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 184,857, dated November28, 1876; application filed September 19, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES L. GARFIELD,

of Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have inventedan Improved Apparatus for Extinguishing Fires, of which the following isa specification: The want of a rapid, efi'ectual, clean, andindestructive mode or means for extinguishing fire in buildings, stores,storehouses, public buildings, manufactories, vessels at sea or inharbor, and all places where fire can or may occur, with the leastdamage to the structure, and none whatsoever to the wares contained ordeposited in them other than 'those hurt or damaged by fire, has longbeen felt. Innumerable instances could be cited to show that greaterdamage has resulted to furniture in dwellings, Wares in stores andstorehouses, machinery in factories, and cargoes in vessels by the useof water as a fire-extinguishing agent than from the effects of fire. Tocheck the encroachment of fire and to confine it to the place in whichit originated often necessitates flooding adjoining buildings, and whena high wind prevails even this recourse proves unavailing. In winterseason the hose for water not unfrequently freezes, and renders all aid,even from the most efficient fire-cocks, futile, and in many instances,also, buildings of great value have been demolished by gunpowder to stopits progress. Instances-Ohicago and Boston confiagrations. Even this didnot prevent valuable property from being reached and destroyed by fire.Still, while many highly ingenious modes to extinguish fire by gas havebeen devised to remedy the evil resulting from the use of water as anextinguisher, none seem to compass the desired result. Some of thesemodes provide for the use of water to mix with carbonic-acid gas andcast it on the fire as a mist. Other methods provide for the generationof carbonic-acid gas or its equivalent, and at the same time provide forthe escape of thelighter gas.

The object of my invention is to provide for the above-named want,avoiding entirely the use of water as an extinguisher, to utterly putout and'destroy fire without moistening in the least any part of thebuilding or wares contained in it, to confine it to the place of itsorigination, and to prevent its spreading in all seasons of the year,independently of the character of the material in a state ofcandescence. I accomplish this by forcing the nitrogen contained in theatmosphere into the building where the fire rages, at a low temperature,in such volumes as to neutralize the effects of the element upon whichalone it subsists and alone can existviz., oxygen. This I effect bydrawing or forcing atmospheric air, by means of a pump, through aconfined candent body, to disengage and disunite the two elements thatform and compose it, and using both in the accomplishment of my object.These elements, as is well known, are, by bulk, seventy-nine partsnitrogen; by bulk, twenty-one parts oxygen. I use the oxygen, ortwenty-one parts of each one hundred parts of a volume of theatmosphere, to keep up the caloric in my disengaging apparatus orfurnace, and the seventy-nine parts of nitrogen thus disengaged,disunited, freed, and separated, without diminution in volume orcharacter, I draw from the disengaging apparatus or furnace by means ofa double-acting exhaust and compression pump, through a pipe connectin gthe disengaging apparatus or furnace to a coil of metallic pipe, or anyother form of cooler, immersed in water; or the coil may be surroundedby natural or artificial ice. The pump, being exhaustive and.compressive,and provided with proper valves, performs a separatefunction at each stroke, viz: In its upward stroke it forces theatmospheric air I use through an aperture into and through the confinedcandent body, to effect a disengagement, disunion, separation, andfreedom of the nitrogen, and'likewise the volume or seventy-nine partsdisengaged by the action of the oxygen is drawn through the coil tocool, and reaches the pump, as before stated, at a low temperature. Inits downward stroke it forces this volume through a flexible hose orpipe, provided with a suitable nozzle, directly into the fire, and, ifthe fire is too intense to be approached, throughan aperture provided orextemporized into the compartment containing the fire sought to beextinguished. The effect, by experiment made by me in the presence ofseveral parties, proved almost instantaneous.

Having described the modus operandi of disengaging the elementscontained in atmospheric air, and the uses they subserve as a means ofextinguishing fire, I will now describe asuitable construction ofapparatus for use therewith.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a top View of the apparatus fortreating the air. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same.

The apparatus or furnace A may be square or cylindrical in form, andmade of sheet or cast iron. The furnace has a'closed top, B, and anairtight door, B, for the supply of fuel or the renewal of any of theparts, hava ing also all the hereinbefore-mentioned pipe or pipes Fconnecting with the cooler G. Inside of this furnace I place a cast'irongrate, similar in form to those used in ordinary coalburning stoves, andupon this grateI place the materials upon which the oxygen is .consumedin keeping up the desired caloric for the disengagement and freeing ofthe nitrogen. When a fire threatens to spread I close all doors andwindows in the adjoining building next threatened, and force into it avolume of the nitrogen 1 free fromthe atmosphere in such a quantity asto provide for any escape. I thus impregnate an apartment and destroythe power of the oxygen to assist the flames to exist. The capacity ofmy pumps being known, I know how many strokes are neces sary to producethe amount of nitrogen required to fill an apartment or building, andthe speed at which they should work. But the nitrogen thus freed fromthe atmosphere can be stored in tanks or reservoirs for use at a futuretime, and kept at the ordinary temperature of the surrounding air, andallowed to flow from a main provided for the purpose.

The pump 1) may connect with an air-chamber, E, which equalizes the flowof air through a suitable hose attached thereto. G may represent asuitable tank in which the air or product may be stored.

Other means may be employed for absorbing or abstracting theoxygen--such as magnetism or electricity, or dia-electro magnetism,

so long as I filter the air and obtain nitrogen as a result of suchfiltration.

H is an eduction-pipe for the attachment of the hose.

In some cases I may use a compressionpump to force air through thefiltering medium.

It will be obvious that it is not necessary tolocate the apparatus inclose proximity to the fire, so long as sufficient force is given to theextinguishing product through any length of pipe to the scene of thefire.

It is my intention to supply the nitrogen disengaged, as hereinbeforedescribed, on a large scale, so as to supply this air in a similar wayas gas or water is furnished to cities or houses, so that instead ofusing water to put out a fire, I use this air or lighter gas, though itmay be desirable to construct buildings in future with suitable meansfor attachment of the hose.

The air may be drawn or forced through the separating medium and applieddirectly to the tire without being passed through acooler.

I do not claim any mode of generating carbonic-acid gas forextinguishing fire; if said gas exists it is accidental. This hasbeenaccomplished by a diversity of modes; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. An apparatus for extinguishing fires, con-" sisting of a closedchamber for the materials by which the oxygen is separated from the air,a pump or blower by which the air is forced through the said chamber andinto contact with the said'materials, and a pipe or pipes by which theseparated nitrogen gas, with whatever carbonic gases may be intermixedtherewith, may be delivered either directly to the fire or to a coolingand storing chamber.

2. The coolingtank O, in combination with furnace A B, pipe or pipes F,and air-forcing appliance, as and for the purpose set forth. CHAS. L.GARFIELD. Witnesses: i

TIMOTHY J. SULLIVAN, JOHN W. OSBORN.

